CFVI and CVV on KBDI-12

["Pete Klammer" <pklammer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was the second caller with the "what if flash memory fails" question;
which they totally dodged, instead of answering, by saying, well it just
won't fail.

The moderator never got it: "what's the difference if I verify what I write
vs. if I verify what I touch?"

I think that points up the "level of enlightenment" we must deal with to win
hearts and minds: we must start at a very simple level, and make sure our
listener understands it: OK, in this case, you at least know your marks are
in the ballot box the way you marked them, right?  Now compare that to the
touchscreen, what can you be sure of after you leave the voting booth?  You
clicked the "verify" button and the "cast" button before you left, and you
felt good, right?  Now just suppose you voted for, say, Jones, and at the
end of the day, zero (0) votes were reported from that touchscreen for
Jones?  How could you prove anything?  In the paper ballot case, you, or
other poll watchers, can keep an eye on the ballot box until it is unsealed,
and your physical ballot has got to be in there, unless the ballot box was
opened in secret when no one was looking.  But in the electronic case, you
know what the election officials will say?  "You made a mistake, you just
thought you voted for Jones, or else you're lying now just to make trouble."
This is the initial level of enlightenment that the KBDI moderator didn't
get, and which I'm afraid much of our audience doesn't get yet, either.


--
Pete Klammer, P.E. / ACM(1970), IEEE, ICCP(CCP), NSPE(PE), NACSE(NSNE)
   3200 Routt Street / Wheat Ridge, Colorado 80033-5452
 (303)233-9485 / Fax:(303)274-6182 / Mailto:PKlammer@xxxxxxx
   "Either Be Good, or Else Be Careful, but Do Have Fun! "